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Catholicism vs. Christianity

Christianity came first. In the 300s Emperor Constantine called together Bishops of all the Christian Churches in the Roman Empire and they established the Nicene Creed — known today as the Apostles Creed. Later on the Pope came to be the head of the church and at times the head of some European countries establishing the Holy Roman Catholic Church. In the 1500s, a Catholic monk named Martin Luther was disillusioned with the Catholic Church and the way it was extorting money from believers and he started the Protestant Reformation. He wasn’t the only one, the Methodists, the Puritans (who became the Pilgrims) also weren’t happy with the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church over the years has tried to make sense of divine things to make them easier for the people to understand. They invented Purgatory. Purgatory doesn’t exist in the Bible.

Neither is confessing your sins to a priest who then forgives your sins. Only God can forgive your sins and He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross and rise again so that our sins could be wiped clean and we could conquer death like He did. Nor is saying 5 Hail Marys and 4 Our Fathers and 2 Acts of Contrition as penance. Jesus provided the penance when He died as the Sacrificial Lamb. Read: I Confess

Their rule of not being able to receive communion unless you confess your sins is also not in the Bible. All believers should partake in communion as Jesus called us to do.

They also give Mary, Mother of Christ, and the saints the power of being intercessors between us and God. You don’t need them. God sent us Jesus and Jesus is all you need. God hears our prayers. As is praying to the saints for help and worshiping statues. That’s idolatry. Read: So Many gods.

That Catholics also believe that you can work your way to heaven by being good. Martin Luther realized that was wrong when he read this passage from Romans:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

Luther wrote, “I felt myself reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning…This passage of Paul became to me a gateway to heaven.”

So which denomination is right? As someone who was raised Catholic, then converted to Protestantism and now attends a non-denominational church, I say find a good bible-based church. One that doesn’t follow doctrines created by man, but the Word of God.
Source(s): http://millennium.giselleaguiar.com/1500s.html

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